


Something Soft and Soaked in Pain

by amirawrites



Series: Will/Riley in every AU possible [1]
Category: Sense8
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-10
Updated: 2015-07-10
Packaged: 2018-04-07 16:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4269471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amirawrites/pseuds/amirawrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short work inspired by the prompt "You were trying to get a cereal box off of the top shelf and the whole shelf fell on you I’m sorry but holy shit this is hilarious and let me help" with Riley/Will from sense8.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Soft and Soaked in Pain

**Author's Note:**

> This work is the first part of my "Riley Blue/Will Gorski in all the AUs" series, which I will be updating at least once a week. Check back in soon for Blueski in another prompt! This prompt was taken from http://promptsfordays.tumblr.com/post/116244449490/height-difference-aus.  
> Also this AU doesn't include the sensate part simply because it would be impossible for them to 'randomly' meet if they already shared minds so... yeah.
> 
> The title was taken from Twenty One Pilot's "The Judge" which I listened to a lot while finishing this work up. You should check it out.

Will Gorski was not having a good day.

It had started with a call at four in the afternoon that his dad was drunk ("the best time to drink is all the time, Will") and dancing on top of tables without any pants on. By the time Will had managed to convince his dad to put his pants back on and go the hell home, Will barely had time to go home and shower before having to go to work.

Work had been hell. Saturday nights were usually bad and filled with drunk people, but this Saturday night had particularly been tense. Will had been called in to break up three different bar fights- two of which hadn't spared him from their blows and the third which had ended with an angry girlfriend attempting to smash a bottle of vodka over Will's head, which really just meant Will got whacked in the back of his skull with a full bottle of alcohol.

Now that he was finally off of work, all Will wanted to do was drown out his headache with pain pills. He went to a corner store near his place to stock up on meds and ice packs for his various bruises. He browsed the poorly lit aisles slowly; his aching head making it hard to process things as he tried to read labels and side effects and choose between the normal ice pack or the ones shaped like penguins (what? they were cute).

A scream rang through the store, making Will wince as his hair stood on end. It was accompanied by the sound of several boxes crashing onto the ground. Will was already running to find the source of the noise, one had instinctively on the gun at his hip.

He found the source two aisle down, where a pile of cereal boxes lay on the floor next to several broken shelves. As Will walked closer, he heard a groan and the boxes shifted to reveal the face of a girl with blonde hair. Will paused as she turned her head to look at him.

"Well?" she said, her words twisting around her accent, "Are you going to help me up?"

 

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Riley Blue was not having a good day.

It had started with her being out of her favorite cereal. She had already gotten everything out- milk, bowl, cereal, and spoon all laid out on the counter. She had picked up the box, tipped it into the bowl, and... nothing. Well, nothing but a cockroach that had fallen out into the bowl, causing Riley to scream and scramble backwards and knock her head against the fridge handle. Then, a throbbing head and a dead cockroach later, she had discovered she was also out of pain pills.

But she was already _late, late, late_ and simply had to suck it up and run to her gig. When she finally left the club at four AM, her head was pounding and her stomach was growling so she had ducked into a 24 hour corner store to stock up.

Of course, her favorite cereal was stocked on the highest shelf, just out of her reach. With a grunt, and a bottle of ibuprofen clutched in one hand, she grabbed onto the second highest shelf, put her foot on the lowest one, and began climbing.

Okay, it wasn't the brightest of ideas, but Riley had downed a few shots at the club and, _damn_ , could she please just get her fucking cereal so she could go home, pour herself a big bowl, and eat it in bed and make this shitty day a little less shitty? Was that really  too much to ask?

But apparently it was, and the gods must have been angry at Riley for asking because, just as her hands closed around that blasted box, the shelf her knee was leaning against buckled. In blind panic, Riley dropped her bottle of ibuprofen and grabbed onto the shelf. It however, was not prepared to take her weight and gave out under her grasp.

Riley fell screaming onto the floor as cereal boxes went cascading after her. She thudded painfully onto the ground as her ankle caught on the shelves and scraped against them. The top shelf crashed onto it and she let out another yelp of pain. Then, everything was still and Riley laid on the ground, wondering how it was even possible to fuck up this badly as she heard the sound of feet running towards her.

She groaned as she nudged a few boxes off of her face and looked around to see a cop staring down at her.

"Well?" Riley said, trying to think past the pounding in her head, "Are you going to help me up?"

 

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Will wasn't sure what exactly set him off. Something about being sleep deprived, hearing a girl scream, and then seeing her emerge from a pile of cereal boxes triggered Will to laugh. And, after he started, he could not stop.

 

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He was laughing at her. Guffawing, really. Bent over with his mouth wide open in a stupid grin that made his eyes crinkle in such a way that made something in Riley twinge and her lips pull upward, unable to resist mimicking him, which only made her force down the smile and feel more anger stir at his unintended charm. Sure, his laugh was loud and contagious and rich, but Riley was still on the ground of a corner store with her ankle stuck in between two shelves and her fucking head was **_pounding_**.

As he continued laughing, a store clerk arrived. She looked at the shelves, looked at Riley, and wiped a hand over her exhausted face. "Really, lady?" was all she said before walking away, which sent the cop into another bought of laughter.

Eventually, he managed to get himself under control. Wiping tears away, he asked, "What happened?"

"Well, the cereal I wanted was on the top shelf and I couldn't reach it so I sort of climbed up the shelves and-"

Riley was interrupted by him erupting into laughter again. She scoffed, feeling deeply offended that this _cop_  would come running to the rescue and then him and his stupid, cute face would laugh at her, without even offering any sort of help and just really, she thought, being quite rude.

Seeing that he would be of no use, Riley decided she was going to have to get herself out of this. She shifted slightly, trying to get more leverage on her leg. As she moved, the shelf dropped further, straight onto her ankle and sending pain shooting up her leg. Riley gasped as tears sprang to her eyes, whether from pain or frustration, she couldn't tell, but they were hot and heavy on her eyes, drooping out the corners quicker than she could stop them.

The cop was at her side in an instant, laughter dying away so quickly Riley almost doubted if it had been there in the first place.

"Are you hurt? What's wrong?" he asked, eyes crinkled with worry now.

"My ankle," Riley sobbed. She hated crying, but her anxiety had overwhelmed her. Too many things went wrong, she felt like she was losing it. "It's caught under the shelf."

"Hey, hey," the cop said soothingly, "it's going to be okay. Here, I'm Will. What's your name?"

"Riley."

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"Okay, Riley, I'm going to take a look at your ankle and try to help you out. Is that okay with you?"

Riley sniffled before nodding, her chest shuddering as she breathed. A fresh wave of guilt waved over Will. He had _laughed_ at her and now she was _crying._ Could he be more of an idiot? He had managed to offend this gorgeous girl within five seconds of meeting her.

Will was crouched next to the shelves, peering where her ankle was caught, when the store clerk from earlier reappeared. She marched right over to Will and held out a screwdriver and a bag of screws. Once Will opened his hands, the clerk dropped the items into his palms and then walked away without saying a word. Riley heaved in another sob and covered her face in her hands, sending cereal boxes skidding away.

Will narrowed his eyes at the clerk's retreating form. How could she be so rude when Riley was so obviously upset? Will put the tools down and leaned closer to Riley, carefully placing his hand on one of her elbows. When she didn't pull away, he tugged her arm away from her face.

"Hey, Riley, it's going to be okay. I'm going to get your ankle out of these shelves and then I'll fix them and we'll both put all the cereal back, alright?" he asked gently.

Riley wiped tears away from her eyes. "Okay." She tried to set her face into straight lines but her lips were still trembling and her hands shook as she caught the fresh tears with her fingers. "Just b-be careful."

"Will do," Will reassured her before turning back to the shelves. He carefully set his hands on the shelf around her ankle. "I'm going to lift this up and then you scoot away pull your leg free, got it?"

"Got it," Riley said, and her voice didn't shake this time.

"Alright... now!" Will quickly lifted the shelf and Riley pulled herself backwards, away from the shelves. As soon as her foot was clear, Will set the shelf back down and turn to face her.

"Thank you," she said, staring at her ankle.

"Do you mind if I look at it?" Will asked. Once she nodded, he pushed some cereal boxes out of the way and crouched closer to her. He slowly placed his fingers on her ankle, lightly brushing them over her skin to check for swelling. The skin was a very angry red, but nothing felt twisted. "Can you try moving it?"

Riley took a deep breath before she began moving her foot around. She winced several times, but she had full mobility.

"Look likes it'll be badly bruised, but you didn't do any lasting damage." Will picked up the screwdriver and the bag of screws before standing up. "You should try to keep your weight off of it, though, and make sure to ice it for a while."

"Right, well, if you help me up, I'll help you out with the shelves," Riley said, stretching one of her hands towards him. Will threw the bag of screws onto a shelf and took her hand in his. It was soft and cold and he held onto it until she was securely on her feet, grinning at her encouragingly and giving her hand a light squeeze before letting go. She reached out and took the screwdriver out of his other hand. "You hold the shelves up and I'll screw?"

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"Sounds like a plan," he said, and his stupid cute grin stretched wider before he turned away. Riley started shuffling towards the shelf and he put a hand under her elbow, guiding her to it and taking the weight off of her ankle. She couldn't help returning his smile feeling his warm touch on her.

Will released her and picked up the shelf with one hand while giving the bag of screws to Riley with the other. She leaned warily onto the lower shelves, stretching on her tiptoes so she could reach. She felt Will move behind her and then one hand tentatively hooked onto her hip.

"I got you," he said, suddenly very close to her. Riley flicked a grateful smile over her shoulder before turning back to the shelf and getting to work.

Riley finished fixing the top shelf quickly and then they moved on to the second shelf. Riley didn't need Will's support on this one, she was tall enough to reach, but still, her hip felt absently cold without his touch. When she she finished the second shelf, Riley turned quickly, not giving Will enough time to step back.

They were very close, sharing the same air. Will lingered for a second, his gaze bearing down into hers, before he took a step back. 

"Thank you for helping me, Will," she said. "I can take care of the rest of my own. I'm sure you're ready to go home."

Will scooped up some cereal boxes and smiled at Riley. "I don't mind helping." 

Riley smiled back and bent down to gather some boxes, trying to hide her burning cheeks. 

Restocking the cereal didn't take as long as Riley would have liked; they finished in a few minutes. Will retrieved the bottle of Ibuprofen Riley had dropped and handed it to her, fingers brushing over hers. 

"You should probably get a wrap for your ankle, too," Will told her. 

"Do they have those here?" Riley asked. 

"Yeah, here, I can show you." Will held out his arm and Riley tucked her box of cereal under her arm and held her Ibuprofen in her other hand so she could take his arm. He lead her over three aisles and they picked out an ankle wrap, then he walked her to the counter. While Riley checked out, Will went to get whatever he had come to the store for.

The clerk eyed Riley suspiciously as she checked out her items, as though Riley would try to smash the counter. 

"So you and your boyfriend thought it would be funny to come in here and wreck my store?" the clerk asked over the box of cereal. 

"Oh no, he's not my boyfriend and it was an accident, really, I'm very sorry. We fixed everything," Riley told her. 

The clerk raised a doubtful eyebrow. "Not your boyfriend? Sweety, it is five in the morning and he's here helping you shuffle around the store like you're a lost puppy."

Riley felt slightly offended at being compared to a helpless animal but something also fluttered in her chest when she thought about Will helping her. She didn't have time to reply, for Will reappeared, grinning at her as he walked to stand next to her. 

Riley lingered after paying for her groceries, waiting for Will as the clerk rang him up. They stood awkwardly together outside of the store, both not wanting to leave just yet. 

"Uh, well, make sure you wrap and ice your ankle as soon as you get home," Will told Riley. 

She nodded. "I will, and thanks again for everything."

Will ducked his head. "It was no problem."

Riley shifted her bag of groceries and stepped towards Will before her better judgement could stop her. She carefully placed a hand on one of his shoulders and stretched up to place a quick kiss onto his cheek. Pulling back, she smiled at him. "Maybe I can take you out for a drink to thank you properly."

Will was smiling at the ground. When his eyes flicked to meet her's, Riley's heart kicked in her chest. "That'd be really nice. Maybe I could give you my number and you could call me about those drinks... or, uh, if you needed anything else."

Riley nodded and handed Will her phone so he could enter his number. Once that was done, Riley said, "I guess I should be getting home."

"Yeah, it is pretty late," Will agreed. 

"Goodnight, Will," Riley said, turning away. 

"Goodnight, Riley." 

Riley ducked her head into her shoulder, hiding her smile as she walked away, and this shitty day was not so shitty anymore. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! Come fangirl and cry with me at wileysenses.tumblr.com or leave a comment here! Have a good day/night <3


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